Lisa Ijiri Elected Commissioner on Regional Accreditation Body
Lisa Ijiri Elected Commissioner on Regional Accreditation Body
Lisa Ijiri, a clinical professor of higher education administration and a senior advisor to the dean, was recently elected to the New England Commission of Higher Education. NECHE is one of seven regional accreditation bodies in the United States that ensure that colleges and universities meet rigorous educational standards.
“The nominating process will usually elicit the names of people who are leaders at different levels of higher education, who are knowledgeable about higher education in general, who would be a good resource to other institutions, and who would be able to understand the complexity of the issues that these institutions are facing,” says Ijiri, who will serve as a commissioner for three years.
Although other BU administrators have been NECHE commissioners, this is the first time a member of BU Wheelock’s faculty has been elected. A longtime educational administrator who has served on over fifteen NECHE Visiting Teams, Ijiri looks forward to continuing to support equity and student success in her new role.
“When you look at the range of higher education institutions that NECHE accredits, there are so many spaces where good equity work is happening,” she says. “As an accrediting body, we can elevate that work and serve as an accountability partner to help with all of that in a systemic way.”